1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a watercraft including a plurality of watercraft operating devices arranged to adjust an amount and a direction of a propulsive force or a resistance of the watercraft. The operating devices are arranged in a manner such that their movements are controlled during operation of the watercraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
A watercraft has a large number of watercraft operating devices such as an engine, a rudder, a thruster, a trawling motor, a flap, a trim, etc., that are provided in prescribed positions and can adjust an amount and a direction of a propulsive force or a resistance of the watercraft. The watercraft operating devices are constructed so that they can be operated by respective operation devices such as a steering wheel, a joystick lever, an accelerator, a trim switch, or the like. The respective watercraft operating devices are mechanically or electrically connected to the operation devices and are operated by actuators in accordance with the operation of the operation devices, thereby operating the watercraft.
To control a conventional watercraft, an operator of the watercraft is required to select a watercraft operating device to be operated, determine an operation amount thereof, and operate the operation device corresponding to the watercraft operating device. Operation amounts of the watercraft operating devices need to be adjusted in accordance with a traveling state of the watercraft. Therefore, operating a conventional watercraft requires much effort, and this operation tends to be affected by differences in knowledge and experience between operators.
To make it easier to operate a watercraft, for example, a control device by which a plurality of watercraft operating devices can be operated in a combined manner is disclosed in JP-A-2001-152898. An operator of a watercraft can combine operations of all watercraft operating devices affecting specific traveling characteristics such as engine and trim angle operations, and thereby optimize the way that operations are combined in accordance with preferences of an operator and the environment in which the watercraft is operated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,333 discloses a remote control system configured in a manner such that a steering direction, etc., can be adjusted to correspond to an orientation of the watercraft by controlling the watercraft by a remote controller. Therein, it is possible to optimize directions of the watercraft operating devices corresponding to a traveling state of the watercraft.
However, in conventional watercraft, one or several specific watercraft operating devices are operated by each of the operation devices even though operation amounts of the plurality of watercraft operating devices are automatically optimized as in JP-A-2001-152898, or the operating directions of the watercraft operating devices are automatically adjusted corresponding to a traveling state as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,333. Therefore, it requires the operator of the watercraft to select the various watercraft operating devices.
However, there are many cases in which it is preferable to operate different watercraft operating devices in the same operational state, and thus the operation of the watercraft requires much effort when inappropriate watercraft operating devices are selected. Furthermore, knowledge and experience, etc., of an operator of the watercraft tend to be required in order to precisely achieve a desired traveling plan, thus making it difficult to achieve comfortable operation of the watercraft.